A Promise in Ash by Elysia Strife

Book Description:
A romantic-suspense novel featuring: miscarriage, hot co-workers, cybersecurity threats, and the struggle of defining family after abuse.

With only an abusive mother-figure to guide her, Norah has learned everything the hard way. An unexpected pregnancy with her fiancé changed her career plans. But miscarriage and betrayal thrust everything in reverse again. Eerie things start happening at work, and Norah finds herself at the center of the investigation.

Secrets tumble forth from Norah's father, her ex-fiancé, and the mystery around her adoption, breaking the walls she's put up to protect her heart. Now, more than ever, she longs for trust, love, and a family of her own.

Bonding with her handsome co-worker, Evan, and his teenage daughter, Ashley, Norah gets a glimpse of cohesive family life. She finds herself falling for Evan and becoming an unlikely source of help and understanding for Ashley. Evan and Ashley have an empty seat at their table, one Norah wishes to fill. Yet the guilt of taking the previous woman’s place threatens to keep them apart.

Can Norah overcome the scars of her past and discover her inner strength? And will the private letter from her father answer her questions or destroy the family, and the man, she's come to love?

My Thoughts:
This was a somewhat heavy book.  The author doesn't shy away from hard topics but jumps right into them and handles them quite well.  Norah is a realistic character (which is sad in it's own way).  She has no good example to follow in life and feels lost and broken.  She has been hurt, betrayed, abused, and wants love and acceptance.
Evan and Ashley are a father/daughter pair and the author does a good job with them as well.  There is a lot about having to overcome and persevere which is also realistic.  Plenty to keep you glued to the pages with everything going on and all the things coming to light.  This isn't a light fun read, but one that will make you stop and think for a long time after closing it.  
It was a 3/5 for me.  

Thank you to the author for the review copy of this book via PUYB.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.